20/09/2009 - 6.40am we finally arrived at Savannah Station. Wow...the first thing that hit us was the humidity! Even though dawn had barely broken it was sooo warm. Despite our reservations, Savannah had a much bigger station than some of the other stops we had seen on the way and we were relieved to see a queue of cabs waiting to meet the train. Our taxi driver (a lady!) met us with a typical southern greeting, 'How y'all doing today?'. She was lovely and the taxi ride to our hotel was beautiful. With dawn breaking and the sound of tropical insects, we realised we were in a very different environment to one the we had just left....

We were dropped off outside our B&B 'The 1895 Inn', but because it was not even 7am on a Sunday morning, there was not a soul in sight and we couldn't check in. We had had no sleep for 24hrs and we weren't about to get any anytime soon! Exhausted, we dragged our suitcases through the deserted streets of Savannah and for the first time in our lives we were pleased to see a Starbucks

. Feeling drained, we got our drinks and settled down in the comfy seats for a long stay...no sooner had we sat down and I knocked the table and sent Jim's coffee flying all over our luggage, me and the floor, I could have cried. The two guys sitting near us jumped up immediately to help. Another guy sitting near by also got up and offered to buy Jim another coffee. It's hard to explain how we were feeling at this point, but the unbelievable hospitality from the few people we had met so far (and the messages I'd got on facebook!) nearly sent me over the edge!

At 10am we went back to the B&B to drop off our bags. The owner, Ed, was so lovely and sorted us out with a map and told us to come back at noon when our room would be ready. With the 85 degree heat, no sleep and a bad back, we set off to find the nearest tour bus to fall asleep on! Unfortunately, we picked a bus with the most annoying guide ever and the ride was painfully slow. Despite this we were beginning to realise what a beautiful place Savannah was. The historic centre is made up of a number of beautiful squares, which are full of lovely oak trees with Spanish moss hanging down from the branches. The houses surrounding the squares are stunning and date from the 18th and 19th centuries. We also discovered that a number of films had been filmed in Savannah, most famously Forrest Gump.

After the tour we went back to the Inn and were shown round by Ed. The building was a huge Victorian townhouse full of art and antiques, which, according to Ed, out-priced the house twice over! He also told us about the cheese and wine hour at 5pm every day and the serving of desert in the lounge later on in the evening! Finally, we reached our room, which had a huge waist height four-poster bed. We jumped straight in and slept for the next five hours, before going out for dinner later in the evening.

21/09/2009 - We woke up in the morning to a fabulous formal breakfast (including silver cutlery!), with fellow guests at the inn. Again, we got some great tips for places to visit later on in our trip. We spent the rest of the day walking around Savannah and taking in all of the sights. We visited Chippewa Square, where a well-known scene from Forrest Gump was filmed and Tom Hanks famously says 'Life is like a box of chocolates...'. We stopped off for something to eat at Leopold's Ice Cream Parlour, which is owned by Stratton Leopold, a famous Hollywood film producer. The restaurant was filled with lots of film memorabilia and photos of the owner with Hollywood actors. We had an early night that evening (watching DVDs from the DVD library), so that we would be fully refreshed for another long train journey down to Miami at 6am in the morning...